Random Acts Of Service
In this program, children take on projects to help the community in return for all the support the community has given to Prakash Deep.
Our very first project started with the collection of food items, clothes, medicines etc. for Tsunami victims way back in 2004. Students of Prakash Deep School collected and packed the stuff for the victims and had it dispatched with the help of an NGO, which was doing this on a larger scale. It was a small beginning.
From April 2009 Random Acts of Service became an integral part of the School Project.
Sunday, 26th of April turned out to be a day to remember. The staff, children and some supporters of the school had been discussing “Random Acts of Service to the Community” for more than a month now. Pamphlets had been printed and personally delivered to houses in sectors 21-A and 21-B in the hopes that the community would also get involved in the program. Initially, there was a lot of verbal support and donations of brooms, spades, dustpans and gloves came, but few people physically joined us. However, on Sunday, the 26th of April brave and warm hearts, Dr. Nancy Kaul, Dr. Sandeep Abrol, Sudarshan Chopra, Anisha Gadekar, Rajni Dua, Sunita Kandhari and Hemanshu, joined the effort. We were also joined by Anju Basu and Abhishek from Kant Enclave, both of whom are part of a group of volunteers that clean the Surajkund road on Saturdays.
At 8 A.M. sharp all of the staff and students divided into seven groups, comprising of one teacher to five children in each group to take on different areas. The enthusiasm of children was infectious. The walkway on both sides was littered with plasic bags, bottles, used plates and glasses, dirty pieces of cloth and stale food items.
With the efforts of Anju Basu and Abhishek, a tractor trolly for carting the garbage was arranged to take the collected garbage to an area dump. Upon finishing the children were served refreshments and then sent home to rest and reflect on the good work they had done. For once the Community Centre, which is a beautiful place otherwise, looked clean and spruced up: a beautiful clean environment we could all cherish!
In the next project, children painted the speed breakers to increase visibility in order to allow time for drivers to slow down. The speed breakers are so crudely made that they have been nicknamed backbreakers or car breakers!
In 2011 a dry bathroom was set up near the shopping complex. The area surrounding it was being used as a dumping ground for garbage. Prakash Deep Staff and children decided to clean it up and turn it into a garden. The area was cleaned up but unfortunately, the garden never took off due to no access to running water.
Prakash Deep students developed another garbage dump area near our Center for Learning in the market place, into a park. This was finally taken over by the Bank of India who promised to take care of our plants when we moved out to a new location.
In 2015, Prakash Deep children got together to collect and pack food, medicines, clothes etc. for the flood victim s in Kashmir